I marvel at looking into a
microscope. I focus in and see
time. I see the past, really far into
the past. I see beautiful small aquatic plants encased in glass that lived on our planet for many millions of years. Sitting inside Dr. Evelyn Gaiser’s Algae Research lab at Florida International
University in Miami, I look at a slideand see diatoms. Diatoms transport
me to a place so distant in time that it wouldn’t look like the Earth I know. They
help connect me to an Earth I am trying to better understand. An Earth fluid. An Earth as process. An Earth completely
interconnected. An Earth generating life forms across space and time.

Fig. 2. Xavier Cortada, Drawings of Diatoms from the Everglades, 6″ x 6″, ceramic tile, 2017. In diatoms I
also see moments captured in time. Scientists
can determine the past salinity of wat…

by Luca Marazzi* Why
is it important to study algae?
To start with, algae produce ~ 50% of the oxygen on planet Earth, they are food
for small and large animals that in turn are eaten by people, but they also
recycle nutrients and absorb CO2 from the air; by existing and doing
their own thing, these microorganisms provide these so called ecosystem
services to human beings (Fig. 1). Moreover, as algae reproduce fast and are
often adapted to specific environmental conditions, understanding how many
species of algae, and which ones, live where and why give us cues as to the
health of aquatic ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Fig. 1. Simplified scheme
of the role of algae in food webs (from my Ph.D. Thesis). * Dr.Luca Marazziis a freshwater ecologist working inDr.
Evelyn Gaiser’s research groupin
the School of Environment, Arts and Society at Florida International University.
His main interest is how biodiversity, ecology, and distribution of
algae in subtropical wetlands cha…